Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Jan 6th, 2020 2:00PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is below threshold. Known problems include Wind Slabs.

Avalanche Canada jfloyer, Avalanche Canada

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Welcome to Avalanche Canada's Yukon avalanche forecast.

Current avalanche conditions are favourable. Watch for thin areas of wind slab in exposed areas near ridgetop.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the speed, direction, or duration of the wind and its effect on the snowpack.

Weather Forecast

Monday night: Flurries with moderate southwesterly winds.

Tuesday: Flurries with light southerly winds. Some sunny breaks. Temperatures around -15°C.

Wednesday: Flurries with calm winds. Some sunny breaks. Temperatures around -18°C.

Thursday: Dry, clear, calm. Temperatures around -27°C.

Avalanche Summary

Small wind slab releases were observed at the end of last week. No avalanches have been observed since then.

Snowpack Summary

Around 25 cm of soft snow overlies a relatively well-consolidated mid and lower snowpack with no obvious weak layers. In some locations you may find a 2 cm thick crust below the recent fresh snow. In exposed locations, the fresh snow has been blown into variable-thickness wind slabs, which may pose local hazards, but are not expected to propagate widely in most locations. Snow depths at White Pass average around 150 cm; deeper locations (higher terrain west of the highway) have as much as 200 cm. It's reasonable to expect a thin snowpack with sugary facets in the Wheaton Valley, although we'd don't yet have any observations to confirm this.

Terrain and Travel

  • Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.

Problems

Wind Slabs

An icon showing Wind Slabs

Thin wind slab avalanches might be triggered behind exposed features such as ridgelines, especially where wind deposits grade from thin to thick.

Aspects: North, North East, East.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible

Expected Size

1 - 2

Valid until: Jan 8th, 2020 5:00PM

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